Understanding E-Government Development: A Global Perspective

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have been used to enhance services and improve the efficiency of government operations. To further improve the e-government operations, understanding e-government development and studying factors that affect e-government development are important research topics. The purpose of this research is to investigate factors influencing e-government development through a social development lens. Based on growth and regional development theories, this chapter hypothesizes that income level, development status, and region are three factors that differentiate e-government development in various countries. Group comparison tests are conducted using secondary data from the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme. The results support the hypotheses that significant differences in e-government development exist between countries with respect to the three categorical variables mentioned. In addition, the paper applies planned post hoc tests to further investigate the differences in e-government development between different groups of countries (e.g., countries with low income vs. countries with high income). The results of this research are valuable to e-government scholars and practitioners. As the research involves data from countries all over the world, it contributes to understanding e-government development factors on a global scale.